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The Democratic and Republican whips in the U.S. House of Representatives have a lot in common when it comes to Jewish issues — such as bipartisan agreement on support for Israel and an understanding that neither party can take the Jewish vote for granted any longer.

Steny Hoyer is standing on a playing field at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Beltsville, exhorting a group of eighth graders to stay physically fit. He is, as ever, eloquent and impeccably dressed, not a sleek, silver hair out of place. With the thermometer pushing 80 degrees, he hasn't even rolled up his sleeves.

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House Democratic whip, listed what he termed as many GOP failures and quoted a congressional scholar to describe the 108th Congress -- "pretty pathetic." He delivered the Democrats' weekly radio address.

Democrats demanded Thursday that Tom DeLay resign as U.S. House majority leader, claiming that a series of ethics reprimands reveals a pattern of corruption that renders the Texan unfit for a position of leadership.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer criticized the Republican-controlled Congress on Saturday for "surrendering to its own intransigence and admitting that it cannot complete the work the people sent us here to do."

Top House Democrats today condemned Representative Tom DeLay, the leader of the Republican majority, declaring that the latest ethics case against him proved that he had been corrupted by power and was unfit to lead.

House Democratic leaders and several outside groups called for Majority Leader Tom DeLay to resign his post yesterday, saying that three admonishments by the House ethics committee in one week disqualify him for the chamber's second-highest leadership job. Fellow Republicans staunchly defended the Texas lawmaker, even as some said the consecutive rebukes may complicate his prospects of ever becoming speaker.

House Democratic leaders and public interest groups today called
on House Majority Leader DeLay to resign his leadership post,
noting that Wednesday's rebuke by the House Ethics Committee is
the fourth against DeLay in his career -- with three of them coming in the last week

Lawyers for House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) late last week sent a legal “demand letter” to party switching Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), insisting the one-time Democrat return $35,000 in Hoyer campaign contributions by Oct. 15 or face a lawsuit.

In a scene reminiscent of the 1994 "Republican Revolution" that turned the U.S. Congress upside down, Democrats on Wednesday set ambitious goals for the nation and urged voters to finally put them back in charge.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fulfilled a promise to fellow Democrats that they would have a coherent message to take to voters this fall by unveiling a six-point plan for a “New Partnership for America’s Future” yesterday.

The House voted 223 to 193 yesterday to block the Bush administration's sweeping new eligibility rules for overtime pay, giving Democrats a significant victory that they hope will boost the party's standing among middle-class voters in key battleground states in the fall election.

Three candidates. Forty-eight hours. Ten events. Four Western cities.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) spent three days last week on a whirlwind tour of Colorado and Arizona, where Democratic leaders have their sights on three potential pickups in November.

Hoyer, who is seeking reelection in November, has represented the 5th Congressional District since 1981 and has been the House minority whip since November 2002. He has spent nearly all of his professional life in public office, winning a seat in the Maryland Senate in 1966, the same year he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center. Later he became the youngest president of that body in the state's history.

Both the poverty rate and the ranks of the uninsured increased in 2003 for the third straight year, the Census Bureau said Thursday in a report that gave Democrats new ammunition for their assaults on President Bush’s domestic policies.

With the 2004 presidential election on the horizon, disabilities advocacy groups like UCP are now stepping up their rhetoric in support of the Help America Vote Act, which establishes higher standards of voting accessibility at polling places.

House Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, urged President Bush Tuesday to call a rare special session of Congress to swiftly pass the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations for reorganizing the country's intelligence operations.